Writing Prophecies: How to STOP Procrastinating From Writing

I am a big procrastinator which is why I decided to write this post next. If you’ like to check out my other posts on writing you can check them out here.

I think that a lot of us are big procrastinators. Especially whenever we write because although we say we enjoy writing – I mean we’re the only ones making ourselves do the craft – it’s a lot of work, and when something it a lot of work, it’s only human nature to procrastinate from doing the work!

Like for example, I procrastinated from writing this post for about two weeks. I was originally planning on having this post written and posted last Sunday but I didn’t get the motivation to write it and I spent a lot of time doing other things so I wouldn’t have to write this post.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy writing, but it’s just a lot of work and once we actually start writing and delve into the world and into the skin of the characters we’ve created it’s hard to pull ourselves away from the words.

But, how do we get to the point of no return? How do we get past the procrastinating and just write? Well, my friends, I am someone who has difficulty with this myself so I will give you some tips that I think would work (it’s not scientifically proven and tested so apologies if these don’t help you out).

Play music – I’m not one that likes listening to music when I’m doing something else that involves thinking such as reading or writing, but if you are, definitely try this. Even if you’re not a person that would typically listen to music when writing try something soothing or instrumental without any words.

Get rid of electronics – This one would be hard if you’re writing on your computer or if you need to research for your book, but you can also always turn off your WiFi so that you’re stuck with just your word document.

Go to a public place – If you usually write somewhere private such as your bedroom or home office, try branching out and visit a local Starbucks or coffee shop and write there. Sometimes if you’re surrounded by other people that are also working it’ll get you motivated to stay focused on the task at hand. I still haven’t done this but I should definitely try it out one day.

Make Goals for Yourself – I’m somebody who doesn’t typically do this but I definitely should because all of the times I have set goals for myself I have tried my best to reach those goals. Even if you don’t reach your goals, hopefully the push to try and reach them will have gotten some work done.

Plan out what you need to write – When your story has a structure already built it’s quite easy to get yourself to write the actual meat of the story because then you’ll already have a structure written down that you’ll just have to follow. Structuring everything also breaks the work that needs to be done into sections and I don’t know about you, but when a big task is broken down into smaller tasks, it’s not as daunting. When something isn’t as daunting, I tend to procrastinate from doing it less.

I hope these tips helped some of y’all! I still have a constant struggle with procrastinating but if I get myself together and try some of these myself and stay consistent I think I’ll be able to conquer procrastinating!

Also, a good way to not procrastinate is to not go on Buzzfeed or YouTube. They’re spawns of the devil just waiting to keep you from doing anything productive! Hell, I was on Buzzfeed while writing this post, which is why it took me about 30 minutes longer than it should’ve to write this!

Let me know if you have any tips that help you stop procrastinating! I’m always looking for new ways to improve.

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8 thoughts on “Writing Prophecies: How to STOP Procrastinating From Writing”

Structure. Structure. Structure. Personally, that is the hardest part of the writing process. There is so many places to begin. Different hows, and whats, and whys, and whens, and wheres that morph and influence the writing process. But that genuine infused, hopeful feeling as soon as the structure is more or less THERE is the ultimate award because from that point, it all becomes description, description, description of that structure.

Planning is the best thing to do when not procrastinating! However, it doesn’t work when the part of writing that you’re supposed to be working on IS the planning. XD I also like to listen to instrumental music — I used to be able to write with word-filled music but now I can’t??? Sometimes I can tune it out, but not most of the time… XD Awesome tips!

If I had to say in a sentence what I got from the lecture, it’s that I don’t have to do the task well, and not even finish it, I just have to start it. Maybe I can’t complete it but I know I can at least gather the effort to start it. That small change had a really big effect on my life and I procrastinate but a lot less now.

Every single time I pick up my phone (or go to my browser) while writing I end up doing something different and when I put it away, I realize I didn’t do the thing I initially was planning to do on my phone. Always! And then I forgot what I was writing and that ain’t working! These are great tips! For me goals work really well, if I have a certain goal in mind I will keep writing until I get there, even if I get distracted. However, very often writing is not on the top of my priority list and I just don’t write at all on a day 😦